Amalgam: X-termination
by aspiringactor
Summary: Thieves, Archers, Assassins and Mutants, what more could you ask for?
1. Chapter 1

**Amalgam:**

_**X-termination**_

_**Mutants, Archers, Thieves and Assassins. What more could you ask for? **_

Starling City was beautiful at night. Stars twinkled overhead of the somewhat busy streets. People bustled around, not giving a damn about the world, which had recovered from several recent twists in it's existence. Scientists had long ago that there where other, parallel dimensions. And some had even made small doorways to other worlds to exchange information.

But nothing had ever happened on the scale of the events of two years ago. Two simultaneous events, one in each of two universes had caused a rift in space and time. The two had become completely united in a matter of seconds. Most people had remained unaffected from it all. But not the superhero community. They had been torn right down the middle, nearly erupting into a deadly war when the two sides couldn't agree on things.

And they still didn't, for the most part. But a planet-wide alien invasion had brought them all together. In twenty-four hours, more people died then in the entire second world war. But, they had also never been more united against a common threat. That had brought about a revolution, and things had never been better for everyone. Crime rates went down, and super-villains had begun to run for cover.

Which was why Roy Harper was spending his nights breaking up small-time drug rings. He was crouched low on the rooftop, letting his artificial fingers rest against a metal grate. On his back, rested his customized bow-and-arrow, and a full quiver of arrows. Each of them specialized to deal with threats in an non-lethal way. Whether that way be stunning, tazering, gassing or restraining. He was armed to the teeth to take out the entire ring, which could amount to being a small fortress.

Something moved behind him. In an instant, his well-trained body flexed, and he had drawn his weapon and aimed it a lone figure. The figure was female, less than sixteen years old. She wore a tight-fitting green and yellow outfit and had a bow aimed at his head. Strawberry blonde hair flew out of the back of her cowl. The two archers locked eyes, as they waited for the other to act.

"Artemis," Roy said calmly as he inched his drawstring back and inch.

"Red Arrow," the girl, Artemis, replied with a steely tone. In speaking, she confirmed his theory.

"I assume Oliver's here to?" Roy asked as his eyes darted to the side. In an instant, he saw his former mentor step into the light. Unlike the other two archers, Oliver Queen, the Green Arrow, was not wielding his weapon. His hands where clasped behind his back, telling Roy that he just wanted to talk. "And Dinah's somewhere up...there!" Roy finished as he spun around and knelt down. He aimed his bow up high and turned on the small flashlight which was attached to it. His hunch was once again right, as he illuminated the Black Canary.

"We're just here to talk, Roy," Oliver said as Dinah leaped down from her perch. Roy turned his attention back to his former mentor. He hadn't really spoken to the man in fifteen months, ever since receiving his bionic limb. In fact, the last time he had spoken to any of them was three months ago, and that was with Dinah about a local gang's operations. And that conversation had been extremely strained and uncomfortable.

"We've got nothing to talk about," Roy grunted as he lowered his bow. He knew that if he started a fight, he would lose, big time. Both Dinah and Oliver where master combatants. There was no way Roy would be able to overcome Oliver's archery skills and Dinah's sonic scream at the same time. "Now let me get to work," he hissed as he looked back towards the street below. He could see a lone man walking out of the warehouse, wearing a rather long set of flowing robes.

Robes which where very out of place in Starling City. They looked more oriental than anything Roy had ever seen being worn in the city. Definitely worth further investigation. He looked back at his former team, and gave them a strict nod, forgetting all traces of their argument before leaping down onto the street and heading towards the warehouse door. Behind him, he could hear a quick exchange between Oliver and Dinah. And within seconds, they followed him down, as did the teenaged Artemis.

"Locked," Roy hissed as he tried the door's handle.

"Let me see about that," Oliver replied as he drew his bow and knocked a trick arrow. Roy knew enough to step back before his former mentor shot an arrow into the door. In the brief second before the explosion, Roy spotted the blinking head of the arrow, which told him that was the source of the explosion. "Knock knock," Oliver said as he stepped into the warehouse. Roy and Artemis followed, sweeping their bows around in long arcs, looking for hiding gang soldiers.

"Did anyone else see what that guy was wearing?" Artemis asked as Dinah entered the dimly lit room. "Is this a pyjama party or-?"

"I don't think so," Oliver said as he peered around a corner, "we're in the clear, I think."

"No we're not, Green Arrow," Dinah said from the opposite end of the room. Both Oliver and Roy turned on the spot and headed in her direction. She was standing in a pool of light provided by an overhead bulb. But that was not what drew his attention. That role was filled by the decapitated body lying on the ground. It was a clean cut, which told Roy that it had been done by an expert. A theory which was confirmed by the sight of two throwing daggers imbedded in the wall.

"Is that-" Artemis began to say.

"The League of Assassins," Oliver interrupted with an annoyed sigh.

xxx

"I just need-" Doctor Hank McCoy began to say as he turned around, holding out a needle in his right hand.

"A small sample of blood?" Jubilation Lee, the twenty-three year old former mutant turned vampire. She leaned her head back as she felt the needle, which felt warm against her otherwise cold skin, slip into a vein in her arm. "There won't be anything left of me when you're done," she continued with a sigh as the good, furry Doctor withdrew the blood he needed. Jubilee lamented her situation as she watched Beast set the syringe into a machine, that would scan it. She lamented the fact that none of her friends looked at her in the same way, if they even looked at her at all. More often than not, she heard whispers about how 'eerie' she looked, with her pale skin and gold eyes. Heaven forbid they mention her very prominent fangs. It was so distracting during the few conversations that she had, that she would resort to hiding her teeth with her lips, which caused her to mumble a lot of the time.

"Well I'm afraid your...unique genetic structure means that your blood decays at an accelerated rate," Hank said with a heave as he moved from monitor to monitor, checking various sources and charts, which where giving him the information which he apparently needed. She smiled as she watched him mumble to himself, studying the various charts and graphs, looking for an answer that might not be there. She could see the sweat on his forehead, glistening against his fur.

Slowly his beads of sweat dripped downwards. What was he stressing about? Was it his own mutation? Was it the stress of being one of the X-men? Or was it the knowledge that he was alone in a room with a mindless killing machine, who's every instinct was telling her to leap onto his back and sink her teeth into his flesh? _He stands no chance, _Jubileethought as her heart began to pound. _No chance of surviving. He's already been bitten..._ That part was true. Jubilee could see with her own eyes the bite marks on his neck. She watched as he fell to the ground, blood gushing from the wound like water from a fountain.

And in her heart, she knew it was her fault. She could taste the blood in her mouth. It was so sweet, so savoury. It was like chocolate; chocolate which was melting in her mouth. She wanted more, she was longing for it. And it came to her. Scott, the Professor, Logan. All of them where on the floor now, bleeding. Fountains of blood reached for the skies, showering her in a freakish, scarlet coating of delicious blood. She opened her mouth wide, drinking the stuff in with glory shining in her golden eyes. Why had she ever denied her true, beast-like nature?

"...Jubes..." a weak voice called out to her, as something grasped her ankle. She looked down, in the midst of her joy, to see Logan staring back up at her. His eyes where full of fear, fear which Jubilee came to understand. She had killed him. She had killed them all. Not just Logan, Hank, Scott and the Professor. But more. She was surrounded by a mountain of bodies, each of them in a different state of dying or death. Some moved towards her in a slow fashion, like Psylocke and Kitty Pryde. While others refused to move at all. She slipped on the scarlet substance which she enjoyed so much, and fell to her knees. _I killed them all..._ she thought with a whimper as she looked at the faces of her friends. _I...I'm a _monster...Hot blood trickled out of the side of her mouth, and she looked down. In her arms was Gambit, having been freshly bitten. Bitten by her own fangs, her own insatiable thirst for death and destruction._ I believe all of this! Shh, Celeste! She might realize what we're doing anAck! _She shook her head, not understanding her own thoughts. They sounded alien, but still in her own voice.

"Jubilee?" Hank called out. But how could he? He was lying on the ground not twenty feet from her, dead. She could see the blood gushing out of his wound. "Jubilee, are you all right?" Hank asked as Jubilee shook her head. She remained on the pile of bodies. Then she was sitting in Hank's lab. Back on the bodies. The Lab. The bodies. Lab. Bodies. Lab. Bodies. "Jubilee?" a hand rested on her shoulder, and Jubilee spun around, leaped off the lab bench and gave a feral hiss, warning away the danger, which turned out to be nonexistent. She was still in Hank's lab, and he was standing in front of her with the 'worried uncle' look he was famous for. "What's wrong?" he asked as he rested a paw-like hand on her shoulder.

"N...nothing," she shuddered, trying to shrug him off as the doors to the lab opened.

"I think tat nothin' comes in three of diamonds, chere," Remy Lebeau, the red-eyed X-man known as Gambit said as he entered the laboratory. He was dragging the infamous Stephord Cuckoos, otherwise known as the 'Three-in-one' along with him. All three girls bore a look of disgust towards Gambit, who released them. All three stumbled in a similar fashion before setting themselves upright. In unison, they glared towards Jubilee, making their obvious disdain for her apparent before turning to face Hank.

"Our _mother_ wishes to speak with you," the three-in-one said with complete unison in their voices.

"And why could you not simply come in here and tell me that?" Hank asked, obviously not missing a beat about what the girls had just done. He folded his arms across his chest as he glared the three of them down. It was fairly common knowledge that the Cuckoos believed that how a person looked was everything. Hank had often been at the receiving end of their snide remarks for years, as had Logan, Laura Kinney and Gambit. Jubilee was only the most recent addition to their cruel mind games.

"We where," the three-in-one replied, "but we did not wish to be viewed as food by the beast."

"Well," Hank said, keeping a calm tone of voice. "You have delivered your mother's message. And I would appreciate it," he continued, maintaining his tone as he spoke. "If you would please refrain from insulting the doctor in his own facility. And if you would extend the same courtesy towards his patients," Hank finished in a lower tone of voice. The three-in-one gave a single, disgusted huff before they turned away, clearly thinking of ways in which they could get even with Doctor McCoy. They passed by Gambit, who was smirking to himself.

"Midnight shopping spree, chere?" Gambit asked slyly.

"Not in the mood," Jubilee replied with a slight snap.

"I tink' yous are," Gambit said as he produced not one, but three wallets, all of which where encrusted with diamonds, "dey're buying, after all."

xxx

"What would the League want with Starling city?" Artemis asked, allowing her inexperience with the group to show. They where currently dissecting the remains of the warehouse, having found three more bodies in the process.

"They've got facilities in every major city," Dinah said as she ruffled through a series of papers that where lying on one desk. "Smaller groups to collect information on crime lords, vigilante activity and such. They all report to the current head of the demon," she finished as she arched her back, and Oliver re-entered the room.

"Just got off the phone with Oracle," Oliver said with a sigh, catching Roy's attention. "Ra's al Gul has been very inactive as of late. Nothing has shown up on the radar," he continued as he scratched at his beard. "And they've got a good radar. So this is either nothing, or-"

"Or something really big," Dinah and Roy said in unison as the three of them exchanged glances. Roy gulped as he wondered what that could possibly mean. The League of Assassins was notorious for moving around in the dark. Most people, even some mid-level vigilantes, denied their existence. But the Archers all knew better. They had numerous encounters with the group in the past, next only to the Bat-clan. "Like this," Dinah said as she produced a map, which had a large, red circle around a section of geography. "They're targeting that Mutant School."

"Great," Oliver sighed as he rubbed his temples, showing an emotion that Roy understood completely. Any past interaction he had with the secretive group known as the X-men, who operated out of the school in question, had been uneasy. They largely liked to keep t themselves, for some reason.

xxx

_Fwoosshh! _The playing card exploded in a cloud of purple energy, high above the school grounds. The card was soon replaced by another, which was charged with special energy, which caused it to explode with a similar effect. Jubilee looked over at Gambit, who was in the process of tossing a third card into the air. She knew what he was trying to do, he was trying to distract her from the day's events, which she was grateful for, even if it was unnecessary. There was no way she would be able to just _forget _what the three-in-one had done, and the image of the bodies of her friends. It was the same one that haunted her nightmares, when she did sleep. Part of her vampire powers meant that she almost never needed to sleep. At most, she needed a few hours per month.

"Ze stars are beautiful, aren't dey, petite?" Gambit said with a smirk as he slipped his deck of cards back into his jacket.

"Petite?" Jubilee replied with a huff as she gazed upwards, "It's been a while since anyone called me that. Especially you."

"Well," Gambit said wryly as he began to twirl a coin in his hands. "'Zen maybe it is a good time to do so again?" He continued as he patted her on the shoulder. She was surprised by the fact that he actually made contact without shuddering. The only people who had been able to do that where Professor Xavier and Logan. Everyone else, even Hank McCoy for the longest time, had a slight impulse to retract their hand. "Keep 'tings the same, no?"

"But things aren't the same," Jubilee replied with a toothy grin. "Are they? I mean, the whole universe just got flipped on it's head. Not to mention..." she said, motioning to her own jaw, and to the twin sets of fangs that where located on both the top and bottom of her mouth.

"We're all a' little different, petite," Gambit smirked as he gave her a gentle push, which was somewhat ill-timed. She could feel a slight tingle in the back of her throat, which told her it was time to reach into her coat pocket, and bring the small, insulated flask out to bear. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Remy eye to metal container with some caution, even as she placed it against her lips. The synthetic blood-like substance, which had been developed by Hank, flowed down her throat. It tasted horrible, but it soothed her thirst for the time being. "Always meant to ask, petite," Gambit cut in with a sincere tone of voice, "wha' does dat taste like?"

"Imagine a subtle blend of Copper," Jubilee replied as she returned the flask to it's place inside her coat. "and freshly packed dirt. And all watered down with overripe prune juice," she finished with a somewhat lighthearted smirk before getting to her feet. While she was in no way tired, she could tell that Remy was. And unlike Jubilee, he actually needed to sleep. But, knowing he would never take that kind of imitative, she decided to instead. She would resign herself to pacing around her quarters, which where located in an off-shooting wing of the laboratory behind a bio-hazard sealed door. All for the protection of the other residents of the school, according to Emma Frost and Scott Summers.


	2. Stroke of Doom

This night was just like the last. Same night sky, same desolate streets.

The only real difference was that Roy Harper began tonight with a partner. Beside him was the teenaged Artemis, knelt low over a rooftop. He scoffed at her somewhat ridiculous attire. It was completely out there, even by Superhero vigilante standards. Bright green did not necessarily suit covert operations in the same way that Oliver's more muted colours did. And on top of that, he felt that she was showing way to much skin for a sixteen year old. _Wonder Woman can get away with that, _Roy remarked internally. _Huntress too, and some of those Avengers, _he continued to mumble internally. _But that's because of their age. They can pull it off. It's just...wrong on her. _He tried his best to get his mind back on track as he looked down at the street below, where they could clearly see men leaving a warehouse. A warehouse which was not unlike the one he had been scoping out the night before.

"I say we wait ten," Artemis said, using the most authoritative voice she could apparently muster. "Baddies will have mostly filtered out, and we can go gather some proper intel on the situation."

"Two things," Roy snorted as he continued to crouch. "One; I'm in charge here. I'm the one with more experience, and training. You're the one who Ollie picked as a second-rate knockoff. Two," he continued briskly, "don't call them baddies. It's not all black and white. Most of these people have nowhere else to turn but crime." He finished his mini-rant and looked over at the young vigilante before him. He felt a small pang of regret for his harsh tone, but he felt that it fit their situation perfectly. After all, the girl had to learn some time that the world wasn't the way she pictured it.

It was a fact that Roy Harper, who had been Speedy before loosing his arm during the alien invasion, had learned the hard way.

"Ollie only left you in charge because he went off to that school," Artemis scoffed as she pushed herself away from the edge of the roof. He watched as she flipped her hair back, and scowled down towards the street. Clearly, she disagreed with him about the men being common thugs who loved what they did. But, he noticed that she possessed the tact to remain quiet about it.

xxx

The night air pressed against her skin ever so softly. It pulled at her hair, waving it like a flag through the wind. But she did not break her concentration. No, she was to skilled for that. She remained perfectly still as she inhaled deeply, stretching out with her mind, like Charles Xavier had taught her to all those years ago, even though she had never considered herself a student of his. She began to feel the minds of those around her. Less than a mile's width, but there where still close to a thousand.

Most where sleeping. Some where trying to get to sleep. Others where doing homework. At least six where having sex. And many where dreaming vivid dreams. Some of them, she crept into silently. She wondered at their vividness as wild imaginations ran loose. Epics played out before her mind's eye, as if they where happening all around her. A young boy, no older than ten years old, became a daring prince astride a painted horse. He held a gleaming sword aloft as he charged a fearsome dragon.

In yet another, she could see nothing but fear and chaos. Bodies where piled up around her ankles. Blood seeped into her boots. Only an unobservant individual would never guess who's mind Betsy had delved into. But, luckily, she never had to go any deeper, as she heard the sounds of footsteps behind her.

"Remy," she said softly, referring to her fellow X-man.

"'ow do you do dat, chere?" the mutant thief replied as Betsy turned around to face him.

"Telepathy," she replied slowly as she got to h er feet, and gave him a small nod. "Has uses beyond reading people's minds. She surveyed the man up and down, from his long brown coat to his rough black boots. She didn't need to read his thoughts to understand what he was thinking. Because Wolverine was so often away in New York, or chasing down something from his past, Remy had taken to filling the shoes of 'paternal figure' in Jubilation Lee's world. And Betsy had definitely felt the psychic disturbance that the three cuckoo girls had caused when they had forced the girl into her own worst nightmare. She would have considered turning the Cuckoo's ploy on them, but refrained from doing so. This was mainly due to the fact that while Psylocke was skilled with her abilities, and more powerful than any of the Cuckoos individually, she understood the combined power of the three girls.

"Wha' I wouldn't give..." Gambit began to say, as Betsy held up a hand. In the last thralls of her telepathic scanning, she began to pick up on something moving towards them. She couldn't quite tell what their intent was, but she could tell that there where easily twenty of them. And they knew what they where doing. "Wha's wrong, chere?" Gambit asked tentatively. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see him reaching for his trusty telescopic staff. Obviously, he sensed that she could hear danger fast approaching. What neither of them knew was just how close that danger was.

xxx

The building had been empty for ten minutes, by their guess, before the two vigilantes decided it was safe to enter. Long shadows reached for them as the two of them crept along the side of the warehouse. The atmosphere had a very...eerie feeling to it, even to a hardened individual like Roy Harper. He couldn't help but think that something was just around the corner, waiting to strike from the shadows.

"_Ya'll ready for this?"_

"What the hell-" Artemis snapped as the two of them swirled around, looking for the speaker. They arced their bows around in large circles, as they both activated the flashlight at the ends of their respective weapons. That certainly helped them see, but still the speaker eluded them entirely.

"_Cause here I come!"_

"Up there!" Roy growled as he caught a fleeting glimpse of red. He tried to zero in on the target, but they where moving to fast. Or they had the ability to teleport, which wouldn't have surprised him at all. Nevertheless, he strained his eyes, and pulled on his bowstring a little tighter with his mechanical arm. If there was a threat out there, he was sure that he was as prepared for it as he could possibly be. "Cover my six," he said to the younger vigilante beside him.

"I don't take orders from-" Artemis began to say.

"You have mine and I have yours," he growled as he continued his search for the speaker. However, his search was partially in vain, because the speaker had just leaped down from a ledge, and pulled out two sharp Katanas. What was even more surprising was that the individual was _singing. _

"_I came in like a wreaking ball!"_ the figure, who was dressed from head to toe in red and black body armour, sang as Roy dove to the side. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Artemis do the exact same, and even knock n arrow to her string. An action which Roy followed suit in. Both archers let their arrows fly, and they both hit their marks, sinking in deep into the figure's shoulder. "Ow!" the man screeched as he snapped the arrows out of his body, "that $# & hurts! And why the &*%$ is the writer bleeping out all my &*%$! ^ swears?"

"Who is this guy?" Artemis shouted as she rolled to her feet, and knocked another arrow.

"One of _theirs," _Roy replied as he took cover behind a half wall. "Nightwing told me about him. He's supposedly crazy as hell. Thinks that we're all comic book characters or-"

"Well, technically," the figure, who Roy recognized as a mercenary known as Deadpool, said with utter surety. "we're in a fanfic right now. Means it's all semi-legal-grey-area-stuff. But, on the upside," the mercenary continued as he spun around, and pulled out a sidearm. "No comics code means I can kill however I #$%*&^ want to. And god $# ! damn you, writer! Stop with the $# !*&$ bleeps! And where the &%$# are my yellow box friends?"

"Whatever," Roy snapped as he leaned out from cover, and fired off an arrow. He was met with a hail of gunfire, which caused him to miss his intended target by a hair's breadth. He cursed to himself as he rolled out of the way of more gunfire, which peppered his previous hiding place. "You're still going down," he said as he shot off another arrow. This one stuck itself into Deadpool's lower back, causing the mercenary to howl as he arched his back in pain. This gave Roy plenty of time to assess their situation. He realized that Deadpool was a meta-human, and wouldn't be easy to take out with conventional weapons.

"-Well anyway, I'm not really to sure why I'm here. I guess that the writer just wanted a random boss fight to keep the two of you busy while those guys from the League of Assassins go and do nefarious things," the insane man ranted as Roy looked up, towards the ceiling. He judged how thick it was, and how many exploding arrows it might take to bring a section of it down on top of the sword-wielding madman. "And on top of that, he really needed to have someone in this story to tell all the wisecracks. Especially seeing as for some reason he's _refusing_ to use that stupid wall-crawler. Whatever," the man finished with a grunt as he shot off a few more rounds.

"Hey kid!" Roy shouted as he formed a plan in his head, "Has the boss told you about the time me and him faced down twenty metas at once?"

"And you beat them all with two arrows?" Artemis replied from the other side of the room. "Yeah, he did. Is that what you're thinking?"

"I tried thinking once," Deadpool remarked, "it was absolutely horrible. And I-"

"On three!" Roy commanded, "One, two three!" on the last word, he spun out from cover and aimed an explosive arrow towards the roof. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Artemis do the exact same, and two wooden shafts stuck themselves into the roof. Twice, little red lights blinked on the end of the arrows, near the arrowhead. An explosion followed. Not a powerful one, but enough to knock a portion of the ceiling loose. That particular section came crashing down on the mercenary, pinning him and giving Roy and Artemis plenty of time to get what they came for, and leave.

xxx

Something clicked in the darkness. Someone was coming down the hallway, on the other side of the wall. That very someone was doing their best to be extremely quiet. Jubilee could tell that they where wearing cloth clothing, based on the sounds their clothes made. She sniffed the air, using one of the few advantages her powers provided that she didn't despise, her enhanced senses. She easily matched Logan and Laura's acuteness, but hers were more adapted to smelling out blood. Whenever she was with other people, she found herself knowing if they possessed even the smallest of cuts. So it was fairly obvious that at least one of them had an open cut. And one that was significantly bigger than a paper cut, if she could smell it through solid steel and concrete. And it certainly wasn't Beast or Gambit, she could tell that much. There where at least three of them, and where both to heavy-footed and light-footed at the same time.

"In here," one said sharply.

"No. It is-" another began to say.

"I am sure," the first one said. "We where to look for any potential weapons. Here, there is obviously something they want hidden from the world. Something which we can use." Jubilee smirked a toothy grin as she realized that the intruders where motioning towards her door. And while it was impossible to open from the inside, it was a matter of flicking a switch to open from the outside. "now," the man said as Jubilee heard the familiar sounds of the locks disengaging.

Luckily, by the time the three men entered the room, she was already clinging to the ceiling. They swept their gaze around the room, looking for anything suspicious. And obviously, they where confused. Not to many bedrooms where labelled with a 'biohazard' label.

"What the-?" One of the men said, as Jubilee launched herself downwards, and tackled two of the men with absolute ease. The third was quick to fall to a swift kick, even as he attempted to draw a short sword from it's sheath. He was the one with the injury, she could tell now. Not that it really mattered, because the man was out cold. But, obviously there was more going on than just three intruders. A soft red light was going off in the hallway, which meant that the school was in lock down. All dormitories would be sealed off and pressurized. That way, nobody could spread deadly toxins quickly. Only members of the X-men would be free to move around the school, and discover the source of the disturbance. Which was what she fully planned on doing at that moment.

xxx

The last of six men fell to the ground, dead by her hand. Psylocke sighed as she wiped her blade clean, disgusted that those men thought that they could sneak up on her like they had tried to. Sure, her telepathy gave her an advantage, they had been rather sloppy. She guessed that they where the grunts of whatever organization they belonged to. Their technique was sloppy, their movements where clumsy and their weaponry was poor.

But, despite their inadequacies, they had proven to be useful sources of information. She had been able to gleam from their minds the name and face of their field leader. Apparently, his name was _Deathstroke, _and he was a notorious assassin. He had, apparently been able to engage several super-powered vigilantes in the past, and come out on top. All of which told Betsy that he was a force to be reckoned with, at least.

But then again, so where the X-men.

"Chere!" Gambit half-shouted from where he stood, slightly to her left. She glanced over to him, and saw the direction in which he was pointing. She saw what he saw, which was Hank McCoy limping towards them. He bore a moderately-sized gash on his left side, which seemed to be thanks to the limp intruder slung over his shoulder.

"'Tis not so deep as a well," Hank stuttered as he dropped the man to the ground. "Though he was attempting to reach the-" She never discovered what the man had being trying to reach, as something whistled through the air and struck the good doctor in the back. His expression changed momentarily to one of shock, before he passed out entirely. As he fell to the ground, an armoured figure stepped out of the shadows. For some reason, Betsy could not sense him with her mind. But in the grand scheme of things, that did not seem to matter. He was an enemy, and she would deal with him appropriately.

"_Heeagh!" _she bellowed ferociously as she swung her blade through the air. Mid-blow, she changed direction and went for a stab, hoping to confuse him. However, her enemy saw through the ruse, and swatted her Katana to the side with practiced ease. But Betsy was not without more tricks, as she pulled out of the grip and spun in a perfect circle. As she spun, she brought her foot to bear, and struck him in the chest. He fumbled backwards, while a stab of pain rocketed up her leg. She had failed to account for the man's armour, and was now beginning to pay the price. Even a numb limb could turn the tide of any fight.

"By now you're wondering why you can't read my thoughts," the man, who she guessed was Deathstroke, taunted as he moved himself into a combat-ready position. He drew a keen straight-sword from a sheath and set it against his body in a diagonal fashion. She knew the pose all too well as being no more than a taunt, a lure for inexperienced fighters to charge in and attempt to overpower the seemingly weak defence. Which was why she didn't go for it, at least not in a way she thought he would expect. She swept her blade low, then high in a pattern that few knew how to defend against. It was a manoeuvre designed to sweep aside an opponents sword before delivering a killing blow. However, he anticipated her movement, and retracted his sword entirely. This meant that her first strike hit nothing but air, and his defence was ready. "Niten-ryū, am I correct?"

"Yes," Betsy hissed as she tightened her body into defence mode.

"I prefer Kenjutsu myself," Deathstroke said plainly as he sliced through the air, aiming for Betsy's right shoulder. She anticipated this, however, and dove to the side. What she was unable to see was his second blade coming out of it's sheath. That blade hit its mark, which was her left thigh. A swift kick lead to Betsy crashing against the wall. "It's all about patience. And waiting for the perfect moment to strike," he added in as Gambit charged in, swinging his staff through the air with expert technique. However, the staff was unable to hold up against Deathstroke's sword, and was knocked aside in an instant. And much like Betsy had been, Remy was tossed aside like a rag doll.

"Hmm..," Deathstroke pondered as he twirled his sword in his hands. "You two are on my hit list. I think the friends of humanity would pay a pretty price for your head," he continued as he flicked his sword against Remy's neck. As she watched, she saw a thin trickle of blood appear. Not enough to be a mortal wound, but one that would need attention sooner rather than later. "I think that-"

"_Huurragh!" _out of nowhere sprang new, smaller figure. It only took Betsy a second to realize that the figure was Jubilee. And unlike both Betsy and Remy, she was able to overpower the assassin. She did so not with technical skill and finesse, but rather brute force. With one hand, she swatted aside Deathstroke's sword, sending it clattering to the ground. A powerful kick followed suit, which made the man stumble more than Betsy had been able to. Clawlike fingernails extended from Jubilee's hand, and she slashed along Deathstroke's chest. Long gashes appeared in his armour as he fell to one knee.

But that was when Betsy began to realize something might be wrong. She watched as Jubilee dashed around the downed man, and tore into and through the rest of the man's armour. Betsy knew that under normal circumstances, the mutant-turned-vampire would never have continued the assault. But, she realized that they where all surrounded by blood. And that the scent of which was most likely driving Jubilee into an uncontrollable rage.

"Petite!" Remy shouted, obviously sensing what the young woman was about to do. Luckily, this seemed to be enough to pull Jubilee out of her rage. However, this also gave Deathstroke enough time to reach into his belt, and pull out a tiny smoke grenade, which blanketed the area. Betsy didn't have to wait for the smoke to clear to know that Deathstroke was gone.


End file.
